Botswana – eighth rhino killed in Okavango Delta

According to the director of Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Major General Otisitswe Tiroyamodimo, the rhino appeared to have been killed about a week earlier.

This is the eighth rhino that was poached this year, compared to zero killed in 2017.

Hardly three weeks ago, poachers hit a critically endangered black rhino in the Moremi Game Reserve at Chief’s Island in the heart of the Okavango Delta.

This is the area that was believed to be the most secure from poachers because it has heavily armed Anti-Poaching Unit (APU).

Tiroyamodimo said the poachers appear like a criminal syndicate that comprises nationals from three countries. “ previous arrests, these people are mostly Batswana working with either Namibians and Zambians,” he said.

He further said the poachers operate by horse and foot. Tiroyamodimo said they are currently working with all agencies involved in anti-poaching including the army and the intelligence agency to nab the poachers.

Botswana has been a safe haven for the rhinos and it recently saw mass translocations of the rhinos from the hardest hit areas in South Africa.

Most of the rhinos moved from South Africa have been released into the wild of the Okavango Delta.